MONEY MATTERS PART I(Biblical Perspective on Money)

A money scandal had rocked the nation in July 2010. In Bell, one of the poorest municipalities in Los Angeles County the city manager made more than what the US president makes in a year. This city manager earned an amount of 800,000 in annual salary. Los Angeles times questioned, “Is a city manager worth $ 800,000?” I wonder what kind of services that this city manager offers to receive that much salary.

I think it is absurd that one person makes so much money per year when according to one report “the average annual income in Haiti is $ 450(per capita).
What a contrast! Sixteen signs suggests that the rich in America are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer” David Jeremiah in his yet to be published book “The Coming Economic Armageddon,”notes, “The American economy, is still deteriorating and threatening to collapse. Although there are glimmers of hope, unemployment is at near record highs in most of the country leaving the total unemployed at 17.2 million in May 2010.” Is the American Dream quickly becoming the American night mare?

In the midst of these contrasting reports what should be the believer’s perspective on money? Are we to follow in the foot steps of those who seem to easily acquire wealth? Or are we to identify with the poorest of the poor in the world? Is money evil or good? Is money important to God? In this message on “Money Matters” I would turn to the Bible to get a right perspective on this important yet often ignored and misunderstood subject, Money.

I. The Biblical perspective on Money.

We realize the importance of money. Unless you have money it is hard to get any thing done these days. It is needless to say that money occupies a very prominent place in our day to day lives and in the running of our society. Yet when it comes to talking about it or hearing a pastor talk about it, we tend to shy away from that subject. Does the Bible shy away from talking about money? Did Jesus ever talk about money in his preaching? Richard Halverson who served as the 60th Chaplin of the United States senate noted, “Jesus Christ said more about money than about any other single thing because, when it comes to a man’s real nature, money is of first importance. Money is an exact index to a man’s true character. All through Scripture there is an intimate correlation between the development of a man’s character and how he handles his money” In my own life and my early discipleship years God dealt with me in the area of how I handled my money.

When it comes to money matters we rather pick up “The Wall Street Journal or read books from Donald Trump or consult finance experts like Suzie Orman but do we ever think of consulting the Bible on matters related to money? Randy Alcorn argues, “How could the Bible’s author and Editor justify devoting twice as many verses to money (about 2,350 of them) than to faith and prayer combined.” This tells us that money is important to God. If it is not important why did Jesus spend 15 percent of his recorded words on money? Why did he say more about how we should handle money than anything else? If it is important to God, then it should be important to us as well.

Hear what we can learn from one of the richest, wealthiest and wisest Kings that ever lived. King Solomon has a few words of advice for us. Let me read from the message Bible. Eccl 5:10-15 “The one who loves money is never satisfied with money, nor the one who loves wealth with big profits. More smoke. The more loot you get, the more looters show up (government takes your money away). And what fun is that to be robbed in broad day light. Hard and honest work earns a good night’s sleep, whether supper is beans or steak. But a rich man’s belly gives him insomnia. Here’s a piece of bad luck I have seen happen. A man hoards far more wealth that is good for him and then looses it all in a bad business deal. He arrived naked from the womb of his mother; He’ll leave in the same condition with nothing.”

If that is how it is with money and our life then I wonder why some people work so hard to get wealth? I am not saying that we should not work; by all means we should work and work hard because work honors God. Do riches truly make one happy? Let’s ask some of the wealthiest people in the world regarding what they think about wealth and whether they were happy.
John D Rockefeller: “I have made many millions, but they have brought me no happiness.”
W.H. Vanderbilt: “The care of $ 200 million is enough to kill anyone. There is no pleasure in it.”
John Jacob Astor: (First multi millionaire in the USA) “I am the most miserable man on earth.”
Henry Ford: “I was happier when doing a mechanic’s Job”
Andrew Carnegie: “Millionaires seldom smile.”

Why money doesn’t necessarily make one happy? Consider what Solomon has to say, in Ecc 5:10, “Whoever loves money never has enough money; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income.” The repeated word never is emphatic. No exceptions.
What can money give, and what can money not give you? Money will buy a bed but not sleep; books but not brains; food but not appetite; finery but not beauty; a house but not a home; medicine but not health; luxuries but not culture; amusements but not happiness; religion but not salvation; a passport to everywhere but heaven.

King Solomon acquired so much wealth. He became internationally a popular and well sought after King. He had everything one would ever want to have. He said, “I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure.” (Ecc 2:10) Riches didn’t necessarily make Solomon happy in life, the more money he had the more he indulged in sin and in the end his heart was turned away from worshipping the living God.
There is a subtle danger in accumulating wealth. Money in itself is neither good nor bad, it is rather neutral. It all depends on how you use your money. For example, you can use money to support mission’s work or use the same money and support a terrorist organization. However the Bible warns us against the love of money. In I Timothy 6:9-10, “Lust for money brings trouble nothing but trouble. Going down that path, some lose their footing in the faith completely and live to regret it bitterly ever after.”(Message) I can give a number of examples including some Christian leaders who went down on that path of wanting to get rich and have lost their testimony eventually their faith. During the time of the Iron curtain one persecuted Romanian pastor said, “In my experience, 95% of the believers who face the test of persecution pass it, while 95% who face the test of prosperity fail it.”
If having much money is dangerous for our Christian faith, then what should be our attitude towards money? How could we keep ourselves free from the gripping power of prosperity? In Proverbs 30: 8-9, “give me neither poverty nor riches, but give my only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much, and say who is the Lord? Or I may become poor and steal and so dishonor the name of my God.” Having this attitude I believe would help us stay in balance. Remember it is not the money that is evil but it is the lust for money that is the root of all evil.
II. Two Treasures and Two masters

In the Bible we find many contrasts. For example, the wicked and righteous, or the poor and rich, the weak and the strong, the narrow and broad way, holy and unholy, in the same way when it comes to Money also there are two contrasts: Earthly treasure & Heavenly treasure, and two masters: Mammon( money) and the Lord.

In his first ever preached Sermon on the Mount Christ directly addressed the issue of two treasures and two masters. Matt ?6:19-24, “Don’t store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Vs 24, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You can not serve both God and Money.”

Let me explain this scripture. Is Christ saying that you should not work hard and earn money in order to take care of your own and your families’ needs? NO!! Christ is against amassing wealth only for yourself and never for the Kingdom. Storing up treasures on earth means it is all about me, my family, my comfort and my families comfort.

While we were ministering in India we were surrounded by a lot of poor people. With the financial support we were getting we could live in relative comfort, not in luxury. We were conscious of the poverty that was around us so we made it a point to invest money into the lives of Christian workers, missionaries, and those who were in need. We certainly did not alleviate the poverty in India but we realized we were blessed to be a blessing. That is storing up treasures in heaven by putting our money to good use for the cause of Kingdom growth.

Where your treasure is there your heart will be. How do we know where our heart is? One way to know what is in our heart is by looking at our values, priorities and our check book. What we do with our time and money doesn’t lie. We invest our time, energy and resources in the things that we value the most. If all we value is pursuing the “American Dream” that’s where we invest our resources but if we value pursuing God’s big dream for this world we invest our finances in outreach, supporting missionaries and missions work both locally and globally.

When you give money to missions, let’s say supporting the work of reaching the orphans in Kenya you are not just giving a few dollars but in reality you are developing a heart for the orphans in Kenya; you are sowing seeds in God’s Kingdom and you will reap a harvest of blessings in due season. I remember one time while ministering in Holland, after hearing the plight of the street boys in India a pregnant mother came up to me and said she would adopt three Children one for each of her three children and support them for their schooling. This mother got her priorities right, she is storing up treasures in heaven. If you are acquiring treasures only for your self, you will be like the rich fool of whom Jesus said, “this is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:21)

We have heard the saying, “you can’t eat your cake and have it too” In other words you can’t have it both ways or you can’t get the best of both worlds. This is what Jesus meant when he said you can’t serve money and God at the same time. In ancient times the medium of exchange was Gold, Silver, Bronze, Wood and Stone, just like the currency of today. Instead of worshiping the true and living God, the Israelites worshiped false gods.

Over the centuries Satan has deceived many by offering them wealth. He even brought wealth to a status of a “god” hence caused people to worship him indirectly. According to Greek mythology PLOUTOS (or Plutus) was the god of wealth. According to Hindu mythology there is a goddess of wealth by name Lakshmi.

When Jesus said you can’t serve both the money and God at the same time, he is warning us not to fall into the trap of wanting to become rich. Let’s be aware of subtle tactics of the enemy that come in disguise forms. What about sports? The soccer world cup? Shows like America got talent? American idol? Who wants to be a millionaire? Aren’t they all about money?

So far we have looked into the biblical perspective on money, the implications of acquiring earthly treasures for ourselves and the dangers of serving a hard task master called money. There is much more to learn about this crucial subject matter, for now let’s ask God for forgiveness if we are intentionally or unintentionally worshiping money instead of worshiping Him. May the Lord help us all to worship him alone. Amen.